Durban — The excitement surrounding the 2022 World Cup is reaching fever pitch as global stars of the beautiful game embrace the duties and potential life-changing moments ahead of them.
While off-field disputes and notable names missing out in their respective nations have dominated the headlines in recent weeks, the Qatar World Cup does bring unique elements to it.
IOL Sport’s football writer Smiso Msomi provides three things that make Qatar 2022 unique.
1. A first in the Middle East
Qatar is the smallest country by size to host a Fifa World Cup. This is also the first time that the Fifa take this extravagant event to the Middle East, and the second time it is being hosted in Asia after Japan/Korea in 2002.
2. Financial records broken
Such is the rapidly growing state of Qatar, they have had to build a new city in Lusail to host the finals of the World Cup.
From construction of infrastructure, hospitals, hotels, airports, and several new stadiums, the Middle East nation is reportedly set to eclipse approximately $200 billion in spending since winning their bid to host the global showpiece in 2008.
3. Technology
The VAR will work hand-in-hand with the official World Cup ball Al Rihla, which will possess a sensor connected to the operation room that will allow a very precise detection of the kick point, a huge boost considering the controversy that surrounds VAR.
The new technology uses 12 tracking cameras mounted under the roof of the stadium to track the ball and up to 29 data points of each player, 50 times per second, calculating their exact position on the pitch.
IOL Sport